Joint Venture: Contract Audit

Joint Ventures are common amongst non-operating and operating partners in the Energy Sector to mitigate risks and spread costs. Even with well-constructed agreements, discrepancies can emerge which our Audit processes will identify and correct.

Graeme Robertson

Audit Director

Contact Graeme Meet the team

Who we can help

OIL & GAS
EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION
OILFIELD SERVICES

How we can help

JOINT VENTURE & CONTRACT AUDIT
CONTRACT/VENDOR AUDITS
COMPLETION ACCOUNTS
DRILLING AUDITS
VIRTUAL FINANCE FUNCTION
TRANSACTION SUPPORT
LITIGATION SUPPORT
FRAUD PREVENTION & INVESTIGATION

A WORLD OF EXPERIENCE

Find out more about our experience

Accurate audits are essential for joint venture projects, particularly in the energy industry where substantial costs are the norm. Our joint venture audit service will give you the reassurance that agreed practices are being adhered to. If they are not, then there is the potential to recover significant amounts.

Effective joint venture audits require a thorough knowledge of the industry and how it works. Our joint venture audits are provided by a team of specialists with extensive experience of energy projects in upstream oil and gas. Through supporting clients worldwide, and by establishing relationships with operators based on mutual trust and respect, they consistently deliver prompt and dependable audits.

COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES

Whilst joint venture audits are our core activity, our services extend beyond this so we can deliver a full range of practical support. We also provide:
Contract/Vendor Audits
Drilling Audits
Completion Accounts
Through integration with AAB’s other teams, that extends to other relevant and beneficial services such as:
Virtual Finance Function
Fraud Prevention and Investigation
Transaction Support
Litigation Support

What’s most important of all, of course, is providing exactly the service you want. Our flexible approach means we will dovetail with your needs, for example in what we deliver in our Contract Audits. You may want us to focus more on identifying and recovering overcharged costs, to concentrate more on the vendor’s controls and procedures or to combine both services in one all-inclusive audit. Your requirements come first and we will tailor our response accordingly.

Speak to us about the services you need

AAB encouraged us to submit an R&D tax relief claim. The team clearly understand the process to allow that to happen and were tremendous assistance in facilitating our submissions.
Adrian Smith, Scotia Instrumentation Limited
The Corporate Finance team at AAB understood our business and led us towards concluding a tremendous deal. The team at AAB were thorough, proactive and efficient showing command and control of all the key elements of getting a deal done.
Keith Wallace, EPC Offshore
I was particularly impressed by AAB’s appreciation of the strategic importance of the deal. Additionally, the AAB team quickly understood the very complex structure of the target and were pivotal in advising on how best to approach this.
Ross Baxter, Harbro Limited
We now have access to AAB’s online dashboard system which is providing the business with a real opportunity to identify cost and assist in the global mobility planning process. The solution implemented has been truly customised for us.
Witland LeBlanc, Oceaneering

PROVIDING TRUE VALUE

Naturally you’ll want your joint venture audit to provide the best possible value for money. We deliver this by ensuring the most talented people work on your audit. Our consultants and accountants bring all their relevant industry and senior management experience to your assignment, using their insights to get straight to the heart of matters to make their balanced, pragmatic analysis.
This in turn means we are frequently able to highlight operators’ errors in relation to licences, mechanisms and billing that result in cost recoveries that easily exceed the audit costs. This also encourages operators to improve their processes and run the project with closer compliance with the agreement, thereby keeping future spend under tighter control.
Providing incontrovertible evidence usually has the desired effect, but where absolutely necessary, we can draw on the expert litigation Services available to us through our membership off the AAB Group. We will work resolutely to achieve the settlement you seek.

Discuss joint venture audits with us

EASING THE PRESSURE

Maintaining a productive working relationship with your chosen operators is crucial, so bringing us in as independent auditors allows you to remain separate from the probing, often critical investigations required for a candid and accurate audit. It also eliminates the workload and internal costs associated with using your own people to conduct the audit.
We will take a diligent, non-partisan stance on reviewing, monitoring and negotiating on contract compliance, disputed payments and cost recovery. We investigate procurement and cost allocations and interview managers to determine how operators have arrived at their accounting figures. By highlighting to the operators any potential improvements in their accounting procedures through the latest industry best practice, we can help achieve mutual benefits and enhance relationships, making it easier for you to collaborate with them on future projects.

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